Blackshirts assembled on the plain of the river Po and took position at strategic points. Armed fascist troops gathered outside Rome before marching into the city. The march precipitated the bloodless transfer of national political power to the fascists.

The March on Rome (Italian: Marcia su Roma) was an organized mass demonstration in October 1922, which resulted in Benito Mussolini's National Fascist Party (Partito Nazionale Fascista, or PNF) acceding to power in the Kingdom of Italy (Regno d'Italia). In late October 1922, Fascist Party leaders planned an insurrection, to take place on 28 October. When fascist troops entered Rome, Prime Minister Luigi Facta wished to declare a state of siege, but this was overruled by King Victor Emmanuel III. On the following day, 29 October 1922, the King appointed Mussolini as Prime Minister, thereby transferring political power to the fascists without armed conflict.[1][2]

Trade unions were dissolved while left-wing mayors resigned. The fascists, included on Giovanni Giolitti's "National Union" lists at the May 1921 elections, then won 35 seats. Mussolini withdrew his support from Giolitti and his Italian Liberal Party (PLI) and attempted to work out a temporary truce with the Italian Socialist Party by signing a "Pact of Pacification" in summer 1921. This provoked protest with more radical members of the Fascist movement, the Squadristi and their leaders the Ras ("Dukes", from an Ethiopian term). In July 1921, Giolitti attempted without success to dissolve the squadristi. The contract with the socialists was nullified during the Third Fascist Congress on Nov. 7-10, 1921, where Mussolini negotiated a nationalist program and renamed his political party the National Fascist Party, which boasted "2,200 fasci and 320,000 members" by late 1921.[4] In August, an anti-fascist general strike was triggered, but failed to rally the Italian People's Party (Partito Popolare Italiano) and was repressed by the fascists. A few days before the march, Mussolini consulted with the U.S. Ambassador Richard Washburn Child about whether the U.S. government would object to Fascist participation in a future Italian government. Child encouraged him to go ahead. When Mussolini learned that Prime Minister Luigi Facta had given Gabriele d'Annunzio the mission to organize a large demonstration on 4 November 1922 to celebrate the national victory during the war, he decided on the March to accelerate the process and sidestep any possible competition.[citation needed].

On 24 October 1922, Mussolini declared before 60,000 people at the Fascist Congress in Naples: "Our program is simple: we want to rule Italy."[5] Meanwhile, the Blackshirts, who had occupied the Po plain, took all strategic points of the country. On 26 October, former prime minister Antonio Salandra warned current Prime MinisterLuigi Facta that Mussolini was demanding his resignation and that he was preparing to march on Rome. However, Facta did not believe Salandra and thought that Mussolini would govern quietly at his side. To meet the threat posed by the bands of fascist troops now gathering outside Rome, Luigi Facta (who had resigned but continued to hold power) ordered a state of siege for Rome. Having had previous conversations with the King about the repression of fascist violence, he was sure the King would agree.[6] However, King Victor Emmanuel III refused to sign the military order.[7] On 29 October, the King handed power to Mussolini, who was supported by the military, the business class, and the right-wing.

The march itself was composed of fewer than 30,000 men, but the King in part feared a civil war since the squadristi had already taken control of the Po plain and most of the country, while Fascism was no longer seen as a threat to the establishment.[citation needed] Mussolini was asked to form his cabinet on 29 October 1922, while some 25,000 Blackshirts were parading in Rome. Mussolini thus legally reached power, in accordance with the Statuto Albertino, the Italian Constitution. The March on Rome was not the seizure of power which Fascism later celebrated but rather the precipitating force behind a transfer of power within the framework of the constitution. This transition was made possible by the surrender of public authorities in the face of fascist intimidation. Many business and financial leaders believed it would be possible to manipulate Mussolini, whose early speeches and policies emphasized free market and laissez faire economics.[8] This proved overly optimistic, as Mussolini's corporatist view stressed total state power over businesses as much as over individuals, via governing industry bodies ("corporations") controlled by the Fascist party, a model in which businesses retained the responsibilities of property, but few if any of the freedoms. By 1934 Mussolini claimed to have nationalized “three-fourths of the Italian economy, industrial and agricultural,” more than any other nation except the Soviet Union.[9]

Mussolini pretended to be willing to take a subalternate ministry in a Giolitti or Salandra cabinet, but then demanded the presidency of the Council.[citation needed] Fearing a conflict with the fascists, the ruling class thus handed power to Mussolini, who went on to install the dictatorship after the 10 June 1924 assassination of Giacomo Matteotti – who had finished writing The Fascisti Exposed: A Year of Fascist Domination – executed by Amerigo Dumini, leader of the Ceka, the secret policeagency precursor to the OVRA.[citation needed]

1.
Benito Mussolini
–
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician, journalist, and leader of the National Fascist Party, ruling the country as Prime Minister from 1922 to 1943. He ruled constitutionally until 1925, when he dropped all pretense of democracy, known as Il Duce, Mussolini was the founder of Italian Fascism. In 1912 Mussolini was the member of the National Directorate of the Italian Socialist Party. Mussolini was expelled from the PSI for withdrawing his support for the stance on neutrality in World War I. He served in the Royal Italian Army during the war until he was wounded and discharged in 1917, Mussolini denounced the PSI, his views now centering on nationalism instead of socialism, and later founded the fascist movement. Following the March on Rome in October 1922 he became the youngest Prime Minister in Italian history until the appointment of Matteo Renzi in February 2014, within five years he had established dictatorial authority by both legal and extraordinary means, aspiring to create a totalitarian state. Mussolini remained in power until he was deposed by King Victor Emmanuel III in 1943, a few months later, he became the leader of the Italian Social Republic, a German client regime in northern Italy, he held this post until his death in 1945. Mussolini had sought to delay a major war in Europe until at least 1942, however, Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939, resulting in declarations of war by France and the United Kingdom and starting World War II. In the summer of 1941 Mussolini sent Italian forces to participate in the invasion of the Soviet Union, and war with the United States followed in December. On 24 July 1943, soon after the start of the Allied invasion of Italy, the Grand Council of Fascism voted against him, on 12 September 1943, Mussolini was rescued from prison in the Gran Sasso raid by German special forces. In late April 1945, with total defeat looming, Mussolini attempted to escape north and his body was then taken to Milan, where it was hung upside down at a service station for public viewing and to provide confirmation of his demise. Mussolini was born in Dovia di Predappio, a town in the province of Forlì in Romagna on 29 July 1883. During the Fascist era, Predappio was dubbed Duces town, pilgrims went to Predappio and Forlì, to see the birthplace of Mussolini. His father, Alessandro Mussolini, was a blacksmith and a Socialist, while his mother, Benito was the eldest of his parents three children. His siblings Arnaldo and Edvige followed, as a young boy, Mussolini would spend some time helping his father in his smithy. His fathers political outlook combined views of anarchist figures like Carlo Cafiero and Mikhail Bakunin, the military authoritarianism of Garibaldi, in 1902, at the anniversary of Garibaldis death, Benito Mussolini made a public speech in praise of the republican nationalist. The conflict between his parents about religion meant that, unlike most Italians, Mussolini was not baptized at birth, as a compromise with his mother, Mussolini was sent to a boarding school run by Salesian monks. After joining a new school, Mussolini achieved good grades, in 1902, Mussolini emigrated to Switzerland, partly to avoid military service

2.
Blackshirts
–
Its members were distinguished by their black uniforms and their loyalty to Benito Mussolini, the Duce of Fascism, to whom they swore an oath. The founders of the groups were nationalist intellectuals, former army officers and young landowners opposing peasants. Their methods became harsher as Mussolinis power grew, and they used violence, in 1943 the MVSN was integrated into the Italian armed forces. The Blackshirts were established as the squadristi in 1919 and consisted of disgruntled former soldiers. It was given the task of leading fights against their bitter enemies – the Socialists and they may have numbered 200,000 by the time of Mussolinis March on Rome from 27 to 29 October 1922. The Italian Social Republic, located in the areas of northern Italy occupied by Germany, Benito Mussolini was the leader, or Commandant-General and First Honorary Corporal, of the blackshirts, but executive functions were carried out by the Chief of Staff, equivalent to an army general. The MVSN was formed in imitation of the ancient Roman army, as follows, instead, they derive from the structure of the armies of ancient Rome. Zona = division Legione = regiment, each legion was a unit consisting of a small active cadre. 7th CCNN Division - The 7th CCNN Division Cirene was never deployed overseas or even fully equipped before it was disbanded, the rifle companies had three platoons. Each Legion had a MMG company with four platoons of three weapons each, the Blackshirts replacements battalions were organized as the Blackshirts Rifle Battalions, but its platoon were overstrength and with only 1 x LMG in each platoon. The Blackshirt Divisions contained regular soldiers and volunteer militia from the Fascist Party, after the campaigns in Northern Spain in October 1937, the 2nd CCNN Division was consolidated with the 1st CCNN and renamed the XXIII de Marzo Division Llamas Negras. In 1940 the MVSN was able to muster 340,000 first-line combat troops, Mussolini also pushed through plans to raise 142 MVSN combat battalions of 650 men each to provide a Gruppo di Assalto to each army division. These Gruppi consisted of two cohorts plus Gruppo Supporto company of two machine gun manipoli and two 81 mm mortar manipoli. These mobile groups suffered heavy casualties due to being undermanned, under equipped, the three divisions were destroyed in combat in North Africa. The MVSN fought in every theater where Italy did, all other ranks closely approximated those of the old Roman army as follows. The paramilitary fascist Iron Guard members in Romania wore green shirts. G, wodehouse Axis History Factbook/Italy/Militia Comando Supremo

3.
Kingdom of Italy
–
The state was founded as a result of the unification of Italy under the influence of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which can be considered its legal predecessor state. Italy declared war on Austria in alliance with Prussia in 1866, Italian troops entered Rome in 1870, ending more than one thousand years of Papal temporal power. Italy entered into a Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary in 1882, victory in the war gave Italy a permanent seat in the Council of the League of Nations. Fascist Italy is the era of National Fascist Party rule from 1922 to 1943 with Benito Mussolini as head of government, according to Payne, Fascist regime passed through several relatively distinct phases. The first phase was nominally a continuation of the parliamentary system, then came the second phase, the construction of the Fascist dictatorship proper from 1925 to 1929. The third phase, with activism, was 1929–34. The war itself was the phase with its disasters and defeats. Italy was allied with Nazi Germany in World War II until 1943 and it switched sides to the Allies after ousting Mussolini and shutting down the Fascist party in areas controlled by the Allied invaders. Shortly after the war, civil discontent led to the referendum of 1946 on whether Italy would remain a monarchy or become a republic. Italians decided to abandon the monarchy and form the Italian Republic, the Kingdom of Italy claimed all of the territory which is modern-day Italy. The development of the Kingdoms territory progressed under Italian re-unification until 1870, the state for a long period of time did not include Trieste or Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, which are in Italy today, and only annexed them in 1919. After the Second World War, the borders of present-day Italy were founded, the Kingdom of Italy was theoretically a constitutional monarchy. Executive power belonged to the monarch, as executed through appointed ministers, two chambers of parliament restricted the monarchs power—an appointive Senate and an elective Chamber of Deputies. The kingdoms constitution was the Statuto Albertino, the governing document of the Kingdom of Sardinia. In theory, ministers were responsible to the king. However, in practice, it was impossible for an Italian government to stay in office without the support of Parliament, members of the Chamber of Deputies were elected by plurality voting system elections in uninominal districts. A candidate needed the support of 50% of those voting, and of 25% of all enrolled voters, if not all seats were filled on the first ballot, a runoff was held shortly afterwards for the remaining vacancies. After a brief multinominal experimentation in 1882, proportional representation into large, regional, Socialists became the major party, but they were unable to form a government in a parliament split into three different factions, with Christian Populists and classical liberals

4.
Italian Fascism
–
Italian Fascism, also known simply as Fascism, is the original fascist ideology, as developed in Italy. According to Sternhell “most syndicalist leaders were among the founders of the Fascist movement, ” who, in years, gained key posts in Mussolini’s regime. ”Other historians argued that Fascism billed itself “not only as an alternative. This economic system intended to resolve conflict through collaboration between the classes. It was opposed to Marxist socialism because of its opposition to nationalism. It believed the success of Italian nationalism required respect for tradition, the National Fascist Party founded in 1921, declared that the party was to serve as a revolutionary militia placed at the service of the nation. It follows a policy based on three principles, order, discipline, hierarchy, Mussolini often referred to Fascist Italy during World War II as the proletarian nations that rise up against the plutocrats. It identifies modern Italy as the heir to the Roman Empire and Italy during the Renaissance, Italian Fascism historically sought to forge a strong Italian Empire as a Third Rome, identifying ancient Rome as the First Rome, and Renaissance-era Italy as the Second Rome. Italian Fascism has directly promoted imperialism, such as within the Doctrine of Fascism, ghostwritten by Giovanni Gentile on behalf of Mussolini, The Fascist state is a will to power, the Roman tradition is here a powerful force. According to the Doctrine of Fascism, an empire is not only a territorial or military or mercantile concept, but a spiritual and moral one. One can think of an empire, that is, a nation, Fascism sought the incorporation of claimed unredeemed territories to Italy. Mussolini identified Dalmatia as having strong Italian cultural roots for centuries via the Roman Empire, the Fascist regime imposed mandatory Italianization upon the German and South Slav populations living within Italys borders. This resulted in significant violence against South Slavs deemed to be resisting Italianization, the Fascist regime endorsed Albanian irredentism, directed against the predominantly Albanian-populated Kosovo and Epirus - particularly in Chameria inhabited by a substantial number of Albanians. The Fascist regime claimed the Ionian Islands as Italian territory, on the basis that the islands had belonged to the Venetian Republic from the mid-14th until the 18th century. To the west of Italy, the Fascists claimed that the territories of Corsica, Nice, as a result, Piedmont-Sardinia was pressured to concede Nice and Savoy to France in exchange for France accepting the unification of Italy. The Fascist regime produced literature on Corsica that presented evidence of the Italianità of the island, the Fascist regime produced literature on Nice that justified that Nice was an Italian land based on historic, ethnic, and linguistic grounds. The Fascists quoted Medieval Italian scholar Petrarch who said The border of Italy is the Var, to the north of Italy, the Fascist regime in the 1930s had designs on the largely Italian-populated region of Ticino and the Romansch-populated region of Graubünden in Switzerland. In November 1938, Mussolini declared to the Grand Fascist Council, the Fascist regime accused the Swiss government of oppressing the Romansch people in Graubünden. Mussolini argued that Romansch was an Italian dialect and thus Graubünden should be incorporated into Italy, Ticino was also claimed because the region had belonged to the Duchy of Milan from the mid-fourteenth century until 1515

5.
Italo Balbo
–
After serving in World War I, Balbo became the leading Fascist organizer in his home region of Ferrara. He was one of the four architects of the March on Rome that brought Mussolini. In 1926, he began the task of building the Italian Royal Air Force and took a role in popularizing aviation in Italy. In 1933, perhaps to relieve tensions surrounding him in Italy, he was given the government of Italian Libya, Balbo was the only leading Fascist to oppose both anti-Jewish racial laws and Mussolinis alliance with Nazi Germany. Early in World War II, he was killed by fire when his plane was shot down over Tobruk by Italian anti-aircraft guns. In 1896, Balbo was born in Quartesana in the Kingdom of Italy, Balbo was very politically active from an early age. At only 14 years of age, he attempted to join in a revolt in Albania under Ricciotti Garibaldi, as World War I broke out and Italy declared its neutrality, Balbo supported joining the war on the side of the Allies. He joined in several pro-war rallies, at the end of the war, Balbo had earned one bronze and two silver medals for military valour and reached the rank of Captain due to courage under fire. After the war, Balbo completed the studies he had begun in Florence in 1914–15 and he obtained a law degree and a degree in Social Sciences. His final thesis was written on the economic and social thought of Giuseppe Mazzini, Balbo was a Republican, but he hated Socialists and the unions and cooperatives associated with them. Balbo returned to his town to work as a bank clerk. In 1921, Balbo joined the newly created National Fascist Party and he began to organize Fascist gangs and formed his own group nicknamed Celibano, after their favorite drink. They broke strikes for local landowners and attacked communists and socialists in Portomaggiore, Ravenna, Modena, the group once raided the Estense Castle in Ferrara. Italo Balbo had become one of the Ras, adopted from an Ethiopian title somewhat equivalent to a duke, of the Fascist hierarchy by 1922, the Ras typically wished for a more decentralized Fascist Italian state to be formed, against Mussolinis wishes. At 26 years of age, Balbo was the youngest of the Quadrumvirs, the Quadrumvirs were Michele Bianchi, Cesare Maria De Vecchi, Emilio De Bono, and Balbo. Mussolini himself would not participate in the operation that ultimately brought Italy under Fascist rule. In 1923, as one of the Quadrumvirs, Balbo became a member of the Grand Council of Fascism. This same year, he was charged with the murder of anti-Fascist parish priest Giovanni Minzoni in Argenta and he fled to Rome and in 1924 became General Commander of the Fascist militia and undersecretary for National Economy in 1925

6.
Victor Emmanuel III of Italy
–
Victor Emmanuel III was the King of Italy from 29 July 1900 until his abdication on 9 May 1946. In addition, he claimed the thrones of Ethiopia and Albania as Emperor of Ethiopia and King of the Albanians, during his long reign, which began after the assassination of his father Umberto I, the Kingdom of Italy became involved in two World Wars. His reign also encompassed the birth, rise, and fall of Italian Fascism, Victor Emmanuel abdicated his throne in 1946 in favour of his son Umberto II, hoping to strengthen support for the monarchy against an ultimately successful referendum to abolish it. He then went in exile to Alexandria, Egypt, where he died and was buried the following year. He was called by the Italians Il Re soldato for having led his country during both the wars, and, after Italys victory in the First World War Il Re vittorioso. He was also nicknamed Sciaboletta due to his height of 1.53 m, Victor Emmanuel was born in Naples, Italy. He was the child of Umberto I, King of Italy. Margherita was the daughter of the Duke of Genoa, from birth until his accession, Victor Emmanuel was known by the title of the Prince of Naples. On 24 October 1896, Prince Victor Emmanuel married Princess Elena of Montenegro, on 29 July 1900, at the age of 30, Victor Emmanuel acceded to the throne upon his fathers assassination. The only advice that his father Umberto ever gave his heir was Remember, to be a king, all you need to know is how to sign your name, read a newspaper, and mount a horse. His early years showed evidence that, by the standards of the Savoy monarchy, indeed, even though his father was killed by an anarchist, the new King showed a commitment to constitutional freedoms. Though parliamentary rule had been established in Italy, the Statuto Albertino, or constitution. For instance, he had the right to appoint the Prime Minister even if the individual in question did not command majority support in the Chamber of Deputies, when World War I began, Italy at first remained neutral, despite being part of the Triple Alliance. However, in 1915, Italy signed several secret treaties committing her to enter the war on the side of the Triple Entente, most of the politicians opposed war, however, and the Italian Chamber of Deputies forced Prime Minister Antonio Salandra to resign. At this juncture, Victor Emmanuel declined Salandras resignation and personally made the decision for Italy to enter the war and he was well within his rights to do so under the Statuto. Popular demonstrations in favor of the war were staged in Rome, with 200,000 gathering on 16 May 1915 and it was at this time, the period of World War I, that the King enjoyed the genuine affection of the majority of his people. Still, during the war he received about 400 threatening letters from people of social background. The economic depression which followed World War I gave rise to much extremism among Italys sorely tried working classes and this caused the country as a whole to become politically unstable

7.
Bologna
–
Bologna is the largest city of the Emilia-Romagna Region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy, located in the heart of an area of about one million. The first settlements back to at least 1000 BC. The city has been a centre, first under the Etruscans. Home to the oldest university in the world, University of Bologna, founded in 1088, Bologna is also an important transportation crossroad for the roads and trains of Northern Italy, where many important mechanical, electronic and nutritional industries have their headquarters. According to the most recent data gathered by the European Regional Economic Growth Index of 2009, Bologna is the first Italian city, Bologna is home to numerous prestigious cultural, economic and political institutions as well as one of the most impressive trade fair districts in Europe. In 2000 it was declared European capital of culture and in 2006, the city of Bologna was selected to participate in the Universal Exposition of Shanghai 2010 together with 45 other cities from around the world. Bologna is also one of the wealthiest cities in Italy, often ranking as one of the top cities in terms of quality of life in the country, after a long decline, Bologna was reborn in the 5th century under Bishop Petronius. According to legend, St. Petronius built the church of S. Stefano. After the fall of Rome, Bologna was a stronghold of the Exarchate of Ravenna in the Po plain. In 728, the city was captured by the Lombard king Liutprand, the Germanic conquerors formed a district called addizione longobarda near the complex of S. Stefano. Charlemagne stayed in this district in 786, traditionally said to be founded in 1088, the University of Bologna is widely considered to be the first university. The university originated as a centre of study of medieval Roman law under major glossators. It numbered Dante, Boccaccio and Petrarca among its students, the medical school is especially famous. In the 12th century, the families engaged in continual internecine fighting. Troops of Pope Julius II besieged Bologna and sacked the artistic treasures of his palace, in 1530, in front of Saint Petronio Church, Charles V was crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Clement VII. Then a plague at the end of the 16th century reduced the population from 72,000 to 59,000, the population later recovered to a stable 60, 000–65,000. However, there was also great progress during this era, in 1564, the Piazza del Nettuno and the Palazzo dei Banchi were built, along with the Archiginnasio, the centre of the University

8.
Anarcho-syndicalism
–
The basic principles of anarcho-syndicalism are solidarity, direct action and direct democracy, or workers self-management. The end goal of anarcho-syndicalism is to abolish the wage system, Anarcho-syndicalist theory therefore generally focuses on the labour movement. Reflecting the anarchist philosophy from which it draws its primary inspiration, hubert Lagardelle wrote that Pierre-Joseph Proudhon laid out fundamental ideas of anarcho-syndicalism, and repudiated both capitalism and the state in the process. He viewed free economic groups and struggle, not pacifism as dominant in humans, the CNT started small, counting 26,571 members represented through several trade unions and other confederations. In 1911, coinciding with its first congress, the CNT initiated a strike that provoked a Barcelona judge to declare the union illegal until 1914. That same year of 1911, the union officially received its name. From 1918 on the CNT grew stronger, the CNT had an outstanding role in the events of the La Canadiense general strike, which paralyzed 70% of industry in Catalonia in 1919, the year the CNT reached a membership of 700,000. Around that time, panic spread among employers, giving rise to the practice of pistolerismo and these pistoleros are credited with killing 21 union leaders in 48 hours. In 1922 the International Workers Association was founded in Berlin, the CNT joined immediately, however, the following year, with the rise of Miguel Primo de Riveras dictatorship, the labor union was outlawed, once again. The first secretaries of the International included the writer and activist Rudolph Rocker, along with Augustin Souchy. Following the first congress, other groups affiliated from France, Austria, Denmark, Belgium, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Poland and Romania. Later, a bloc of unions in the USA, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Guatemala, Cuba, Costa Rica and El Salvador also shared the IWAs statutes. The biggest syndicalist union in the USA, the IWW, considered joining but eventually ruled out affiliation in 1936, citing the IWAs policies on religious and political affiliation. The Industrial Workers of the World, although not anarcho-syndicalist, were informed by developments in the revolutionary syndicalist milieu at the turn of the 20th century. Although the terms anarcho-syndicalism and revolutionary syndicalism are often used interchangeably, the Biennio Rosso was a two-year period, between 1919 and 1920, of intense social conflict in Italy, following the first world war. The Biennio Rosso took place in a context of crisis at the end of the war, with high unemployment. It was characterized by strikes, worker manifestations as well as self-management experiments through land. In Turin and Milan, workers councils were formed and many factory occupations took place under the leadership of anarcho-syndicalists, the agitations also extended to the agricultural areas of the Padan plain and were accompanied by peasant strikes, rural unrests and guerilla conflicts between left-wing and right-wing militias

9.
Po (river)
–
The Po is a river that flows eastward across northern Italy. The Po flows either 652 km or 682 km – considering the length of the Maira, the headwaters of the Po are a spring seeping from a stony hillside at Pian del Re, a flat place at the head of the Val Po under the northwest face of Monviso. The Po ends at a delta projecting into the Adriatic Sea near Venice and it has a drainage area of 74,000 km² in all,70,000 in Italy, of which 41,000 is in montane environments and 29,000 on the plain. The Po is the longest river in Italy, at its widest point its width is 503 m, the Po extends along the 45th parallel north. The river flows through many important Italian cities, including Turin, Piacenza and it is connected to Milan through a net of channels called navigli, which Leonardo da Vinci helped design. Near the end of its course, it creates a delta at the southern part of which is Comacchio. The Po valley was the territory of the Roman Cisalpine Gaul, divided into Cispadane Gaul, the Po begins in the Alps, and is in Italy, and flows eastward. The river is subject to heavy flooding, consequently, over half its length is controlled with argini, or dikes. The slope of the valley decreases from 0. 35% in the west to 0. 14% in the east and it is characterized by its large discharge. The vast valley around the Po is called the Po Basin or Po Valley, in 2002, more than 16 million people lived there, at the time nearly ⅓ of the population of Italy. The two main uses of the valley are for industry and for agriculture, both major uses. The industrial centres, such as Turin and Milan, are located on higher terrain and they rely for power on the numerous hydroelectric stations in or on the flanks of the Alps, and on the coal/oil power stations which use the water of the Po basin as coolant. Drainage from the north is mediated through several large, scenic lakes, the streams are now controlled by so many dams as to slow the rivers sedimentation rate, causing geologic problems. The main products of the farms around the river are cereals including – unusually for Europe – rice, the latter method is the chief consumer of surface water, while industrial and human consumption use underground water. The Po Delta wetlands have been protected by the institution of two parks in the regions in which it is situated, Veneto and Emilia-Romagna. The Po Delta Regional Park in Emilia-Romagna, the largest, consists of four parcels of land on the bank of the Po. Executive authority resides in an assembly of the presidents of the provinces, the mayors of the comuni and they employ a Technical-Scientific Committee and a Park Council to carry out directives. In 1999 the park was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO and was added to Ferrara, City of the Renaissance, the 53,653 ha of the park contain wetlands, forest, dunes and salt pans

10.
Giovanni Giolitti
–
Giovanni Giolitti was an Italian statesman. He was the Prime Minister of Italy five times between 1892 and 1921 and he is the second-longest serving Prime Minister in Italian history, after Benito Mussolini. He was a prominent leader of the Historical Left and the Liberal Union, under his influence, the Italian Liberals did not develop as a structured party, they were, instead, a series of informal personal groupings with no formal links to political constituencies. Besides putting in place several tariffs, subsidies and government projects, Giolitti also nationalized the private telephone, Liberal proponents of free trade criticized the Giolittian System, although Giolitti himself saw the development of the national economy as essential in the production of wealth. However his highly complex legacy continues to stimulate debate amongst writers. His father Giovenale Giolitti had been working in the avvocatura dei poveri and he died in 1843, a year after Giovanni was born. The family moved in the home of his mother Enrichetta Plochiù in Turin and his mother taught him to read and write, his education in the gymnasium San Francesco da Paola of Turin was marked by poor discipline and little commitment to study. He did not like mathematics and the study of Latin and Greek grammar, preferring the history and reading the novels of Walter Scott, at sixteen he entered the University of Turin and, after three years, he earned a law degree in 1860. His uncle was a member of the Parliament of the Kingdom of Sardinia and a friend of Michelangelo Castelli. However Giolitti did not appear interested in the Risorgimento and differently to many of his fellow students. Subsequently, he pursued a career in administration in the Ministry of Grace and Justice. In 1869 he moved to the Ministry of Finance, becoming an official and working along with important members of the ruling Right, like Quintino Sella. In the same year he married Rosa Sobrero, the granddaughter of Ascanio Sobrero, a famous chemist, who discovered nitroglycerine. In 1877 Giolitti was appointed to the Court of Audit and in 1882 to the Council of State At the 1882 Italian general election he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies for the Historical Left. This election was a victory for the ruling Left of Agostino Depretis. As deputy he chiefly acquired prominence by attacks on Agostino Magliani, following Depretis’s death on 29 July 1887 Francesco Crispi, a notable politician and patriot, became the leader of the Left group and was also appointed Prime Minister by King Umberto I. On 9 March 1889 Giolitti was selected by Crispi as new Minister of Treasury, but in October 1890, Giolitti resigned from his office due to contrasts with Crispis colonial policy. Menelik informed the press and the scandal erupted

11.
Italian Socialist Party
–
The Italian Socialist Party was a socialist and, later, social-democratic political party in Italy. Founded in Genoa in 1892, the PSI dominated the Italian left until after World War II, the PSI was disbanded in 1994 as a result of the Tangentopoli scandals. It was part of a wave of new socialist parties at the end of the 19th century and had to endure persecution by the Italian government during its early years. At the start of the 20th century, however, the PSI chose not to oppose the governments led by five-time Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti. This conciliation with the governments and its improving electoral fortunes helped to establish the PSI as a mainstream Italian political party by the 1910s. Despite the partys improving electoral results, however, the PSI remained divided into two branches, the Reformists and the Maximalists. The Reformists, led by Filippo Turati, were mostly in the unions. The Maximalists, led by Costantino Lazzari, were affiliated with the London Bureau of socialist groups, in 1912 the Maximalists led by Benito Mussolini prevailed at the party convention and this led to the split of the Italian Reformist Socialist Party. In the 1919 general election the PSI reached its highest result ever,32. 0% and 156 seats in the Chamber of Deputies, during this time period, Mussolini belonged to the Bolshevik wing of the Italian Socialist Party who purged moderate or reformist socialists. The national syndicalists intended to support Italian republicans in overthrowing the monarchy if such reforms were not made, the dominant internationalist and pacifist wing of the party remained committed to avoiding what it called a bourgeois war. After the Russian Revolution of 1917 the PSI quickly aligned itself in support of the communist Bolshevik movement in Russia, from 1919 to the 1920s the Socialists and the Fascists emerged as prominent rival movements in Italys urban centres, often resorting to political violence in their clashes. In 1919, the Socialist Party of Turin formed the Red Army of Turin, the left-wing of the party broke away in 1921 to form the Communist Party of Italy, a division from which the PSI never been recovered and which had enormous consequences on Italian politics. In 1922, another split occurred when the reformist wing of the party, in 1924 Giacomo Matteotti, a member of the PSU, was assassinated by Fascists and shortly afterwards a Fascist dictatorship was established in Italy. In 1925 the PSI and all political parties except the Fascist Party were banned. The partys leadership remained in exile during the Fascist years and in 1930 the PSU was re-integrated into the PSI, the party was a member of the Labour and Socialist International between 1930 and 1940. In the 1946 general election, the first after World War II, for the 1948 general election the Socialists led by Pietro Nenni chose to take part in the Popular Democratic Front along with the PCI. This caused the split of the faction within the party led by Giuseppe Saragat. The PSI was weakened by the split and was far less organized than the PCI, as a result, the Socialist parliamentary delegation was cut by a half

12.
Nationalism
–
Nationalism is a complex, multidimensional concept involving a shared communal identification with ones nation. It is contrasted by Anti-nationalism as a political ideology oriented towards gaining and maintaining self-governance, or full sovereignty, Nationalism therefore holds that a nation should govern itself, free from unwanted outside interference, and is linked to the concept of self-determination. Nationalism therefore seeks to preserve the nations culture and it often also involves a sense of pride in the nations achievements, and is closely linked to the concept of patriotism. In these terms, nationalism can be considered positive or negative, from a political or sociological outlook, there are three main paradigms for understanding the origins and basis of nationalism. The first, known as Primordialism or Perennialism, sees nationalism as a natural phenomenon and it holds that although the concept nationhood may be recent, nations have always existed. The third, and most dominant paradigm is Modernism, which sees nationalism as a recent phenomenon that needs the structural conditions of society in order to exist. There are various definitions for what constitutes a nation, however and this anomie results in a society or societies reinterpreting identity, retaining elements that are deemed acceptable and removing elements deemed unacceptable, in order to create a unified community. Nationalism means devotion for the nation and it is a sentiment that binds the people together. National symbols and flags, national anthems, national languages, national myths, Nationalism is a newer word, in English the term dates from 1844, although the concept is older. It became important in the 19th century, the term increasingly became negative in its connotations after 1914. Glenda Sluga notes that The twentieth century, a time of disillusionment with nationalism, was also the great age of globalism. Nationalism is the term used to characterize the modern sense of national political autonomy. For example, German nationalism emerged as a reaction against Napoleonic control of Germany as the Confederation of the Rhine around 1805–14, linda Colley in Britons, Forging the Nation 1707–1837 explores how the role of nationalism emerged about 1700 and developed in Britain reaching full form in the 1830s. The early emergence of a popular patriotic nationalism took place in the mid-18th century, National symbols, anthems, myths, flags and narratives were assiduously constructed by nationalists and widely adopted. The Union Jack was adopted in 1801 as the national one, Thomas Arne composed the patriotic song Rule, Britannia. in 1740, and the cartoonist John Arbuthnot invented the character of John Bull as the personification of the English national spirit in 1712. The political convulsions of the late 18th century associated with the American, the Prussian scholar Johann Gottfried Herder originated the term in 1772 in his Essay on the Origins of Language. Stressing the role of a common language, the political development of nationalism and the push for popular sovereignty culminated with the ethnic/national revolutions of Europe. During the 19th century nationalism became one of the most significant political and social forces in history, napoleons conquests of the German and Italian states around 1800–06 played a major role in stimulating nationalism and the demands for national unity